InfoAnda - Russia and crisis-hit EU seek to ease disputes at summit

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Yahoo! My Yahoo! Mail More Yahoo! Services Account Options New User? Sign Up Sign In Help Yahoo! Search web search Home Singapore Asia Pacific World Business Entertainment Sports Technology Africa Europe Latin America Middle East North America Russia and crisis-hit EU seek to ease disputes at summit AFP - Tuesday, June 1 Send IM Story Print Russia and crisis-hit EU seek to ease disputes at summit ROSTOV-ON-DON, Russia (AFP) - – Russian President Dmitry Medvedev met EU leaders Monday for a summit overshadowed by the euro zone's economic woes but aimed at resolving longstanding trade and visa disputes. The meeting in the southern city of Rostov-on-Don is the first between Medvedev and EU President Herman Van Rompuy, who leads the EU since the Lisbon Treaty took effect last year. They were joined for an informal dinner to launch the two-day talks by European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso, at what is the 25th EU-Russia summit. The summit is set to gloss over geopolitical disputes -- with Moscow and Brussels seized by economic worries at home -- to smooth bumps in ties over trade, visas and EU concerns about its reliance on Russian energy supplies. A priority will be "continuing dialogue on the chances of abolishing visa restrictions, the presence of which has a destructive effect on all spheres of Russia-EU cooperation," the Kremlin said in a statement. Talks should aim to move to a "concrete draft agreement on cancelling visa requirements," it said. Russia, which has long sought visa-free travel for its citizens to Europe, has voiced growing irritation over visa barriers while insisting the EU's immigration problems are at its southern, not eastern borders. The Kremlin is also eager for EU investment and technology know-how in modernising Russia's economy after the crisis showed up its dependence on oil and gas exports. But the summit comes as the EU faces deep internal divisions over the Greek debt crisis and a sagging euro -- developments that have not gone unnoticed by Russia, which holds near half of it massive reserves in euros. "The EU is living a critical moment in its history," Russian deputy foreign minister Alexander Grushko told reporters ahead of the talks. "We are closely watching how it strives to deal with the financial crises that have assailed several member states." Energy security will also be a key issue, the Kremlin said, as Russia's role as the EU's dominant supplier comes in doubt due to Europe's potential for shale gas exploration and its worries over the reliability of Russian supplies. The EU and Russia are championing two competing pipeline projects -- Nabucco and South Stream -- to pump gas to Europe in the future. Both want to avoid a repeat of disruptions caused by gas-pricing rows between Moscow and Kiev. Russia now supplies a quarter of the gas consumed in the European Union, with 80 percent of which transits via Ukraine's pipelines. Nevertheless, experts said the climate of this EU-Russia summit will be less contentious than in recent years following Medvedev's declaration in April that Russia must show a "smiling" face to the world. Past summits were marred by spats over issues such as human rights abuses in Russia, the August 2008 war in Georgia and Moscow's ire at perceived EU encroachment into its former Soviet fiefdom. But scepticism remains rife over whether the improved atmosphere will bring any concrete decisions with it, amid the bloc's market turmoil and Moscow's preference for bilateral dealings. "We can't expect any serious breakthroughs," expert Sergei Aleksashenko of the Moscow Carnegie Centre told AFP. "Europe is facing fierce problems at home and these worry the EU more than its relations with Russia." At the summit the EU will be looking to make headway on trade disputes with its biggest energy partner, including anti-EU tariffs on timber exports and fees for trans-Siberian overflights. Brussels is also expected to push Moscow on its efforts to join the World Trade Organisation. 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